As far back as 1977, Herb Goldberg was writing about the hazards of being male (Goldberg, 1976). While acknowledging the privileges that were more accessible to men in American culture, he ventured to inform people of the huge costs that come with men's access to privilege. Examples include emotional restrictiveness, being caught in the success trap, addictions, dependencies on women, and self-denial. Not the least of these hazards is the cost to men's health. Take the destruction of the male body, for example. Why do Americans-especially adult men, who are considered the privileged group-kill themselves? Ironically, it is this supposedly privileged, successful class in American society that is also the suicide class. In fact, American men kill themselves at a rate 4 times greater than women ( U S . Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control, 1992).One possible answer to why such a successful class of people in America commit suicide is that the benefits of privilege come at a great, although often unrecognized, cost. Being successful in a materialistic world can be hazardous to one's health. If the pressure to succeed can be measured in terms of survival, then this may explain why after males have approximately the same suicide rates as females in childhood, 4 out of 5 suicide 51
Mentoring happens when a more experienced person provides guidance for a less experienced person. One often thinks of mentoring happening in the development of a young person's career, when an older, more experienced worker shares the "secrets of the trade" with the younger, more naive person. Such mentoring supports the career development of the novice and serves to provide continuity for the labors of the mentor, sometimes far beyond the mentor's working life. Although this process has long been thought important to the development and continuity of contributions in the workplace, there seems to be a shortage of mentoring in domains other than employed work. For young men, such other domains as being a father and husband or even such spiritual and emotional domains as developing a mature sense of their own masculinity are potential areas for mentoring.We begin this chapter by reviewing the current information on the concept and process of mentoring. Then, because mentoring is a stage in a wider context of developmental issues, we discuss and illustrate other criticalWe acknowledge George Gazda's significant contributions to the field of group work, to mentoring, and to the personal and professional development of each of us. Through his leadership and creativity Gazda has helped shape group work to be the force it is today; in doing so, he served as a model for all of us and as a mentor for many, and he is now in the stage of sharing wisdom with us. We thank you for all you have been to us, for all you have done with us, and for the caring and sensitivity you shared as you directed us in our journeys.
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